I Belong With You
by southernbangel
Summary: A series of one-shots focusing on Nathan, Haley and their relationship. The series will be T-rated overall, but there will be M-rated stories scattered throughout. Fluffy, smutty, angsty-the stories will cover it all.
1. What If We Got It All Wrong?

**Sorry it's not an update for _In Your Eyes_ (I am working on the next chapter!) but I'm starting a new series of one-shots focusing on the NH relationship. As I listen to my iPod, I hear songs that remind me of Naley or trigger plot bunnies so I decided to start writing some stories based on those songs. It's a nice way to break writer's block with _IYE_. These one-shots will vary in length and tone-some will be fluffy, or smutty, or angsty, depending on the song inspiration. Some may be interconnected but most will be separate stories. The stories may be set in canon, may be AU/AR, who knows? **

**This one-shot is inspired by the Wakey!Wakey! song "What If We Got It All Wrong?" It's set in the future and is AU. It's a quick one-shot I wrote this evening so apologies in advance for rambling nonsense or spelling/grammatical errors. This probably sucks but it was a niggling story I just had to write so I could get back to _IYE_.  
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**The title of the series is taken from a lyric in Tyler Hilton's song "I Belong."  
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**(And disclaimer: not mine. The lyrics in italics belong to Wakey!Wakey!)  
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**I hope you enjoy! Any feedback is greatly appreciated!  
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_It's been long enough that I can think of you_

It doesn't hurt so much when he thinks of her now, years after they ended their relationship. For the first two years after the break up, merely hearing Haley's name brought a deep, aching pain that he thought would never heal. His friends and teammates grew accustomed to his ever-changing mood swings whenever her name was mentioned or Nathan glimpsed any petite young woman with long auburn hair. The pain would turn to anger to depression to self-loathing to cursing Haley and finally, back to pain. Rinse, repeat.

The first couple of years are a blur to him now, merely endless days of drowning himself in alcohol and women in desperate attempts to forget the one woman who stole his heart so long ago. He thought he'd never move beyond the vicious cycle until one day, he woke up and realized it was the first night since they broke things off that he hadn't dreamt of Haley. Slowly, painfully, he began to allow himself to heal, to move on from the broken dreams he once shared with her. It was the most difficult thing he had ever done, to finally be okay without Haley in his life.

Once he accepted this new reality, he threw himself into it. He refocused on basketball, he studied, he mended old friendships and made new ones, he healed painful wounds with his family. He became the man he once was, only this time without a petite spitfire as the motivation.

So now, years past the break up, he can think of Haley and smile. The ache is still there, it always is, but it's less. The years have softened the sharp edges of his grief, turning it into a more gentle pain that he can live with. In his most philosophical moments, he can even thank Haley for turning him into the man he is today, for all the struggles he's experienced over the last six years have forged a new strength in him he never thought possible.

_So we tried our best, but it wasn't enough  
And we tried so hard that we fucked it up_

Even though it hurts, he sometimes looks back on his relationship with Haley and tries to pinpoint where it all went wrong. It's a futile gesture though, because he thinks they would have ended no matter what. But in his more fanciful moments he chooses to believe otherwise.

He was the popular basketball star of Tree Hill High, the guy every boy wanted to be and every girl wanted to date. She was the smart bookworm who stuck to her close group of friends, content to walk the halls of high school in shadows. Their worlds collided one day when she was assigned to tutor THE Nathan Scott. It was instantaneous attraction on his end, though he still doesn't understand why. Sure, Haley was, and still is, the most beautiful woman he's ever seen, but his instant connection with her was deeper, more honest and true than anything he had and has ever felt. Whatever it was, he can't explain it and doesn't really care to.

Although Haley was hesitant to believe Nathan's intentions were true, she eventually gave in and agreed to a date. That first date led to a whirlwind of a relationship and soon, Nathan found himself falling ridiculously head over heels in love. Haley became his whole world, and he hers. He began thinking in terms he never imagined—of changing his plans for college in order to be close to Haley, of marriage and kids and most importantly, of giving up his dream of playing in the NBA because the thought of being away from Haley for so long wasn't something he was willing to accept.

They burned so brightly, so quickly, that no one and yet everyone was surprised when their relationship ended. The end began innocently enough: a few fights here and there that soon increased in frequency; Haley pulling away from Nathan as graduation approached and Nathan lashing out. The slow simmer of the destruction of their relationship grew to a boil one night three weeks before graduation. Haley confronted Nathan when she discovered that he had lied about not receiving a basketball scholarship from Duke. She had received a full ride from Stanford, her dream school, and Nathan couldn't entertain the thought of being thousands of miles from her. So he told her that Duke hadn't offered him a scholarship and that instead, he had received one from a junior college near Palo Alto, where he would only be a 15-minute drive from her. She believed he was giving everything up for her, something she didn't want. He tried to explain he wasn't losing his dream, that his dream had changed, but Haley couldn't, or wouldn't, believe him. Harsh words were exchanged, and the next thing Nathan knew, he was telling Haley that their relationship wasn't worth all this fighting and maybe they should just give up.

Even now, he can still picture the look of devastation on Haley's face at those words. But she never fought him on it, never fought _for _him, so mere months after their first encounter in the tutoring center, when Nathan's entire world changed whether he knew it or not, they were over.

_Yeah, I could've done much better for you  
But you could've done much better for me I'm sure_

Maybe he should have fought for her, done more to convince Haley that he wasn't giving up anything for her. He could have explained it better, made her understand that without her, basketball meant nothing. He was in love with Haley, completely, irrevocably in love with her. His relationship was more than just high school sweethearts gone wrong. He felt it was forever, but when push came to shove, he let her slip through his fingers without a fight.

Although it's easy for him to shoulder all the blame, he knows Haley has her part. She could have believed him when he told her what he wanted and not assumed she knew what was best for Nathan. She could have fought more when he said they should end things, insisted that they needed to be together because she loved him and he loved her.

But Nathan knows they were just a couple of dumb teenagers, dealing with their first real relationship. They didn't understand, not really, the ramifications of their actions. They were young and in love and thought the world was theirs for their taking, until things got rough and instead of fighting through, they gave up.

When he looks back on their relationship, with the clarity years and pain has brought him, he understands they never could have lasted the way they had been. It was for the best, he convinces himself as the years go by. He was too immature, Haley too untrusting in her belief of them. Their relationship would have crashed and burned eventually, and ending it when they did saved them both worlds of even more pain. Or so Nathan tells himself.

_What if we got it all wrong?  
What if we got it all wrong?_

But in his reminiscences of the past, he wonders if maybe they were wrong to end things. Maybe they could have lasted, would still be together today if he hadn't been such a hothead and Haley so acquiescent. Maybe they'd be married by now, happy and still ridiculously in love. Maybe…maybe…maybe…

It's that thought that keeps him up some nights—the idea that he and Haley could still be together and that ending their relationship was the worst mistake he could have made. He looks at his life and is generally content. He loves his job, he has great friends and finally has a healthy relationship with both his parents. He spoils his niece and nephew rotten, and he and Lucas, his brother, have never been closer. He has a good life, a satisfying life, but there is something missing. During the quiet parts of the night, when it's just him and the darkness, he knows it's not a something but rather, a _someone_ who's missing. He's content with his life and everything in it, but he knows he won't be truly, perfectly happy as long as Haley isn't in his life.

He loved her as an immature, selfish eighteen year-old boy, he loved her as a bitter, angry, depressed man, and he loves her even still, as a fully realized man who knows exactly what he wants. He loves her even more now, six years after their break up, than he did while they dated. Back then, he was a starry-eyed teenager in his first real relationship. That naïvete didn't cheapen his love for her then, but now, he loves her with the grace and honesty and messiness and truth of a man who's experienced the brutal ups and downs of love.

He loves her, he has always loved her, and even though it took him a long to accept it, he will always love her.

_It's been long enough that I can speak to you_

Over the years, he's heard through Lucas details of Haley's life—how she graduated from Stanford with honors and began teaching, eventually moving back to Tree Hill to teach to be closer to family. The fact that she dated but never had a relationship for long, as if, according to Lucas, "she's looking for something she used to have." That she's happy, she has a good life, but like him, something seems to be missing.

So after a particularly sleepless night, when thoughts of Haley and the "what ifs" and "might have beens" of their relationship keeps him restless, he makes a decision. He reaches into his bedside drawer and pulls out a slip of paper. Hastily scrawled in his brother's chicken scratch writing are ten digits.

Taking a deep breath, he picks up his phone and dials the number, mind racing as the phone rings on the other end. The call is answered and his heart leaps when he hears the voice that has stayed with him for six long years.

"Hello?"

"Haley? It's Nathan."

_What if we got it all wrong?  
What if we got it all wrong?_

_fin_


	2. The Book of Love

**Another short one-shot, this time focusing on Haley. The title and italicized lyrics are from one of my favorite songs, Peter Gabriel's "The Book of Love." Like the previous one, this was written on the fly this afternoon so apologies in advance if it sucks. These are mostly written for my benefit, to get niggling plot bunnies written, so the quality may not be there like it is (hopefully!) with my other stories.  
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**As I mentioned in the first one-shot, there are separate one-shots inspired by various songs. A few may be inter-connected but I'll make it clear if they are. These are merely short reflections on the Nathan/Haley relationship. They won't all be character reflections as these first two have been. I promise there will be actual Naley interaction in some of them! **

**Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated! Thank you for your kind words on the first story.  
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**Disclaimer: OTH does not belong to me. Lyrics belong to Peter Gabriel.  
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_The book of love is long and boring  
And written very long ago  
It's full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes  
And things we're all too young to know_

She's nervous. Heart-pounding, palm-sweating, nerves-jangling nervous. She's not sure she's ever been this nervous before—not before her driving test, or even the first day of high school when her older sister Taylor tried to scare Haley by telling the incoming freshman horror stories about what to expect. Today is something different than anything she's ever experienced before.

Raising a shaking hand, she fastens the small earring. She stares at herself in the mirror, wondering who the girl before her is. Same long brown hair, deep brown eyes, and petite figure, nothing spectacular in her eyes. The physical appearance is the same image she sees every morning, but Haley knows the difference is beyond the physical. She's changed over the last several months—changes that happened so subtly, she doesn't even realize it until she's standing in her bathroom, unable to recognize the girl in the mirror.

She's always been the smart, studious girl. The responsible James sibling, the one who can be counted on in a crisis. The cautious girl who overthinks every decision and always does the right thing. She's not like the other girls who giggle and flirt shamelessly in the halls at school. She has her head in the books and sure, she knows how to have fun but she's still Haley James, Responsible One.

Then she meets Nathan Scott and everything in her carefully planned world turns upside down. She finds herself intrigued by the cocky basketball star, but wary of his intentions. Growing up with Lucas as her best friend, she heard all about Nathan and his father courtesy of Lucas. Even when she agrees to tutor Nathan it's more for Lucas's sake than for any altruistic reason. As they start tutoring, she's still hesitant to believe that there is anything more to Nathan than just being an arrogant jerk and initially, he proves her right. But then he begins to open up to her, revealing vulnerabilities she never imagined, and soon, Haley finds herself falling for the dark-haired boy.

Her normal, unremarkable world is completely transformed one morning when Nathan shows up at her house, intent on apologizing for his most recent screw-up. Tired of his apologies, Haley is intent on forgetting Nathan Scott but then he does the unthinkable: he kisses her and everything is changed.

She finds herself becoming one of _those_ girls—the ones who have their heads in the clouds, dreaming of their boyfriends. The ones who doodle hearts and flowers around their combined names on notebooks. The ones who giggle with their friends about boys and first loves and hot kisses.

She knows they're moving fast, maybe too fast, but it feels right, more than anything else ever in her life. She hears the warnings about Nathan, about how he treats girls and how he's simply a selfish jerk who's using her. She listens to the concerns that they're too young to know real love, they don't really know anything about one another. She listens, but she knows they're wrong because she knows Nathan. She knows him better than anyone in her life, and more importantly, she knows his heart. He's vulnerable with her in ways he's never been with anyone, and Haley is simply awed at the pure trust he has in her.

It is scary and exciting and wonderful and nerve-wracking and beautiful and every other word she can think of. It is, in its simplest terms, everything she has ever wanted.

_And I, I love it when you give me things  
And you, you ought to give me wedding rings  
You ought to give me wedding rings_

Their relationship isn't perfect; they have their ups and downs. From finding out the initial reason Nathan asked for tutoring to pressures and insecurities about sex to declarations of love, it's a rollercoaster. It is sometimes challenging, but always amazing.

Being with Nathan opens Haley up to an entirely new life—new experiences, new people, new emotions. Everything seems so much brighter and more vibrant when she is with him. She can't explain it other than she is ridiculously, stupidly, deeply, head over heels in love with Nathan Scott.

So when she finds herself in his room one night, rain pouring down outside as they dry off after being caught in the deluge, and Nathan looking at her with such love and desire and adoration in his eyes, she knows everything she has experienced since she met him has been building to this one moment. Even still, when Nathan tells her she is his family and that he wants to marry her, she is surprised. But what surprises her even more is just how _right_ it sounds. She can't deny that she has had those same thoughts, unspoken for fear of scaring him away because what sixteen year-old boy wants to get married?

Apparently her boy.

It feels like the most natural thing in the world when she tells him yes, she will marry him. There are no thoughts of what her parents will say, what Lucas will do, or even what they will do after they are married. It's just her and Nathan and their love.

Even though she knows how right this is for her and for Nathan, as she stares at herself in the mirror of her childhood bathroom, the nerves begin to creep in as she finishes getting ready.

They're so young.

How are they going to support themselves?

What is Lucas going to say?

What is _Dan_ going to do?

They're so young.

They're so very young.

But then she glances at a picture of her and Nathan stuck in the mirror frame. It's a goofy picture, one they took one night shortly after Nathan moved into his apartment. Even with the silly expressions on their face, it's easy to see the love that had not yet been expressed between them. Staring at the picture, Haley feels a stillness settle over her, calming her fears. She takes a deep breath and smiles at her reflection.

She's ready to step into her future with Nathan.

_fin_


End file.
